Beach House for Rent
By Mary Alice Monroe
- Release Date: 2017-06-20
- Genre: Fiction & Literature
Description
New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe returns to her beloved Isle of Palms to tell the poignant, charming story of two women, one summer, and one very special beach house.
When Cara Rutledge rents out her quaint beach house on Isle of Palms to Heather Wyatt for the entire summer, it’s a win-win by any standard: Cara’s generating income necessary to keep husband Brett’s ecotourism boat business afloat, and anxiety-prone Heather, an young artist who’s been given a commission to paint birds on postage stamps, has a quiet space in which to work and tend to her pet canaries uninterrupted.
It isn’t long, however, before both women’s idyllic summers are altered irrevocably: the alluring shorebirds—and the man who rescues them—begin to draw Heather out of the shell she’s cultivated toward a world of adventure, and maybe even love; at the same time, Cara’s life reels with sudden tragedy, and she wishes only to return to the beach house that had once been her port amidst life’s storms. When Heather refuses to budge from her newfound sanctuary, so begins the unlikeliest of rooming situations. While they start out as strangers, as everything around the women falls apart they learn that the only thing they can really rely on is each other.
And, like the migrating shorebirds that come to the island for the summer, these two women of different generations must rediscover their unique strengths so by summer’s end they, too, can take flight in ways they never imagined possible.
Reviews
Another Winner!
5By BlueShoe222Loved this book from start to finish!A beautiful return to the lush lowcountry
5By Marge_RobertsWith words as lush as the scenery, passion for the lowcountry is written with heart and soul in this novel about multi-generational friends helping and guiding each other through hardships. Cara Rutledge inherited Primrose Cottage on the Isle of Palms from her mother, Lovie, who passed away ten years ago. David Wyatt rents the cottage for his daughter, Heather, to live in for the whole summer in order for her to complete her commissioned job of creating illustrations for postage stamps, using shorebirds as her focus. Living away from home for the first time is overwhelming for Heather, but with her three musical canaries and the beauty of the sea and sea life, there couldn't be a better setting for doing her work. She meets Cara, also a main focus of this story, Bo Stanton, who is finishing up the deck work at the cottage, and Flo, who lives next door with Cara's best friend, Emmi. Long walks along the beaches with camera in hand to capture the personalities of the shorebirds encourage her. Bo shows her laughter and love of life in the lowcountry. The loggerheads that continuously come back to lay their eggs in nests they build, and the creatures of the air and sea are all beautifully woven into this story of loss, anxiety, healing, the art of living, and love. I highly recommend this book to those of us that relish descriptive writings that have you slow down and devour every word in order to treasure the scenery wrapped around you. I loved everything about this novel. [I received an early copy for my honest review.]Another Mary Alice Monroe Masterpiece!
5By ABybee1Wow! What a deeply emotional book that will surely relate to so many who have suffered loss and need to redefine their lives! A newcomer to the Isle of Palms, Heather Wyatt finds herself outside the boundaries of her comfort zone. Life had not been kind to Heather, and the thought of being on her own for the first time in her life intensified the anxiety that had plagued her since enduring a horrific tragedy. Could she feel safe and at home while living in this beautiful seaside community? Her rental for the summer, Primrose Cottage, was overflowing with history, and that history along with its charm and spirits, would be the catalyst to bringing Heather to a place of comfort, emotional reconciliation and growth. Although a stand alone book, Beach House for Rent continues the journey of Cara Rutledge, of Mary Alice Monroe's Beach House trilogy, merging the lives and events of longtime Isle of Palms residents and its latest resident, in riding the waves of life's unexpected gifts and heartaches.
